Holiday Mischief
by chromeknickers
Summary: No chestnuts roasting on an open fire; no mistletoe hanging from a doorway, inviting a warm Christmas kiss. Instead, Draco and Ginny's Christmas Eve is spent sitting on a dark, dirt floor, tied to one another – and not in the kinky way.


Presented to you by The DG Forum's Christmas Challenge: _And The Stockings Were Hung_...

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**Holiday Mischief**

"Weasley!" His tone was urgent, demanding – annoying.

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" the redhead declared hotly, her back against his as the two writhed against the bonds that bound their wrists together.

"Think _quicker_!" he hissed, feeling her elbow dig deep into his kidney.

The two young Aurors, Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy, both sat helpless on a dirty cellar floor, their faces smeared with dirt. Bound together with their hands behind their backs, Ginny was using her thumbnail to try to slice through the thin rope that held them.

"There!" Ginny exclaimed triumphantly with a grunt, pinching loose a knot from their bonds.

"_There_?" Draco echoed, straining against the rope as he turned and glanced over his shoulder, directing a withered glare the redhead's way. "You undid _one_knot! We're still tied up like a pair of pigs for roasting."

Ginny dug her elbow into Draco's rib, eliciting gleeful satisfaction from his grunt of pain and annoyance.

"Hey, one knot is progress," she said distractedly, beginning to work on the next knot. "I don't see you doing anything to get us out of this mess."

"I'm supervising," he responded tersely, turning his attention elsewhere as he let out another grunt, trying to strain his taut muscles against the bonds.

"Supervising?" Ginny huff, slicing her wrists against the rope.

"Yes," Draco retorted, lifting his shoulders forward and pulling futilely. "I'm offering much-needed management to enable our escape."

Ginny rolled her eyes and winced in pain as the thin rope cut into her skin. "Okay, two down," she hissed, untying another knot. "I don't know how many more to go."

"Encouraging," Draco said blandly, eyeing the door in front of him. "We need to get out of this before he gets back."

"Don't you think I know that?" Ginny snapped, jabbing her elbow into Draco's kidney again. "Maybe if you _helped_a little."

"How?" he asked through gritted teeth, feeling as though he had gone through an intense boxing round with the redhead.

"Lubrication," Ginny answered breathlessly, twisting her wrists together.

Draco blinked several times, nonplussed, and then turned to look at Ginny. "Freckles, I had no idea."

"_Rub_your wrists along the rope while I try to dig out the knots!" she growled, gnashing her teeth at his innuendo.

Realisation dawned on Draco, and he made a face at the back of her head. "You want me to _bleed_for you?"

"Yes!"

Cursing to himself, Draco began to strain against the bonds, letting the thin, tight rope cut into his wrist. Tiny rivulets of blood began to drip down his wrists onto forearms, eventually staining the dirt floor below.

"I should be at home right now," Ginny complained petulantly, trying to wriggle her wrists free with the blood from Draco's wrist, "hanging up Christmas stockings by the fireplace."

"Sounds like an arduous task," Draco said in a strained voice, rubbing his wrists along the fine rope, feeling the tension begin to slacken. "Aren't there fifty of you?"

"Ha ha," Ginny said dryly, grimacing as she forcefully began to try to slide a slender wrist out of the bonds. "It just figures that, on Christmas Eve, I'm stuck with your pasty white arse, chasing down an escaped Dark Wizard who has a predilection for Muggle knots!"

Draco snorted, feeling the bonds loosen.

"What's so funny?" she hissed, turning her head towards his shoulder as she wrenched a bloody hand free.

"Those are some big words coming from you, Freckles," he answered with a derisive drawl, causing Ginny to stiffen against him, bristling with indignation. "But it was my pasty white arse that saved yours, if you haven't forgot."

Ginny let out a hollow laugh and spun around, working on the last knot to free her other hand.

"Oh, I haven't forgot," she said, firing herself up for a rant. "I also haven't forgot that it was _you_ who called me out here; it was _you_ who entered the house without backup; it was _you_ who tripped the silent wards, and it was _you_who taunted the particularly hairy man to 'do something about it'."

Draco tilted his head to the side and smiled. "Ah, yes," he said almost wistfully. "He didn't especially like that, did he?"

Muttering expletives under her breath, Ginny finally undid the last knot and then began working on Draco's bonds, digging her nails into his freshly cut flesh.

"Dammit!" he swore, finally slipping his mangled wrists out of the bloodied bonds. "There, are you happy? My blood saved us."

Ginny shook her head and stood to her feet, dropping the cord to the ground as she absently rubbed at her bruised wrists. "We still need to find a way out of here," she said, glancing about the dark cellar for an escape route, "and we don't have our wands."

"Don't worry, Freckles," Draco said calmly, wiping the dirt off his trousers. "I'll get you home safe and sound to participate in your holiday cheer."

"Stop calling me that," she growled, shooting Draco a scathing look.

Draco predictably smirked. "Would you rather I go back to calling you Weasley?"

"Yes!"

She placed her hands upon the cold stone walls as she began to search for a way out. After finding no hidden seams in the walls, she let out a disheartened sigh. Draco tried the door, knowing it was locked.

"Why so glum, Freckles?" He casually looked over his shoulder at the redhead.

"Why so glum?" Ginny repeated incredulously, spinning on her heel to shoot him a murderous glare. "We're trapped in a cellar on Christmas Eve, most likely to be tortured to death by a Dark Wizard!"

Draco merely shrugged at her tirade and walked past her, towards the back of the room. Putting his palms flat against what looked like a sheet of metal, he began to push upwards.

"Exactly, why so glum?"

"Why you—"

Ginny's words were cut short when she heard what sounded like a latch opening, the grating of metal, and a small pile of dirt pour onto Draco's shoes.

"Why don't you just shut it, _Weasley_, and help me pull this up," Draco ordered, offering Ginny a smirk as he nodded towards the small door.

Exasperated, yet relieved, Ginny placed her hands on her hips in announce.

"How did you know that this was here?" she asked, swiftly lowering her hands and running over to help him pull up what looked to be a small door with a pulley and a rope.

"Ye of little faith, Freckles," Draco admonished with a grunt, lifting the metal door all the way up. "This is food cellar, and in a large building as old as this, it's bound to have a dumbwaiter." His smirk deepened as he sat back on his heels and tested the pulley out, finding it functional. "I told you I'd get you out."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoing down the stairs gave the two Aurors a turn for pause, and they exchanged worried glances before jumping to their feet.

"He's coming!" Ginny whispered, looking wildly at the door.

"Quick!" Draco hissed, searching the floor until he found what he needed. "Get behind the door, and I'll draw him out." Picking up a decaying wooden two-by-four, he handed it over to Ginny and pointed at the door. "When he steps through the threshold, you hit him with this."

Silently running behind the door, Ginny held the wooden plank in the air, waiting for the door to open. Spell muttered, the door swung open and in walked a very dark and very hairy wizard. Seeing Draco at the back of the room, untied and alone, the man took a step forward with wand raised. Swinging blindly and forcefully from behind, Ginny hit the man in the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor, out cold.

Draco immediately picked up the discarded rope and ran over to where the wizard lay, quickly binding his hands behind his back as Ginny searched his pockets for their wands. Finding them, she handed Draco his and then properly (and magically) bound the incapacitated man. When the wizard finally came to, Draco ordered the man to lead them out of the cellar and the house without activating any malicious wards. After some painful convincing on Draco's part, the Dark Wizard led them outside into the cool winter air.

"You know," Ginny began, drawing in a breath of icy air, "I get the distinct feeling that you meant to drag me out here." She cocked an eyebrow at the blond, waiting for him to respond as snow began to deposit all around them.

Scoffing, Draco yanked the prisoner down the set of stairs onto the snowy, vacant path. "It is our job to hunt Dark Wizards, no matter the season or the holiday, _Weasley_," he said waspishly, turning his nose up at the redhead. "Why else would I call you out here?"

Ginny looked sideways at Draco, not entirely convinced, but shrugged the feeling off. "So, do you want to search the rest of the house first or take him in?"

Draco pointed his wand at the prisoner, directing him to take a seat on the snow-covered curb. "What about your sentimental need to hang stockings by the fire?"

Ginny shrugged. "I can do that after we turn this hairy bastard in and look for his friends."

"Right," Draco said unconvinced, nodding his head and folding his arms over his chest. "Why don't you just admit it, Freckles?"

Ginny blinked. "Admit what?"

"Admit that you love the chase," he answered, bending down to smirk in her face.

Emulating his stance, Ginny narrowed her eyes and stood up on her toes, her nose precariously close to his. "Admit that _you_ don't want to be alone on Christmas Eve," she said haughtily, and then paused for emphasis, "_Blondie_."

Draco stood up straight and let out a derisive laugh. "You think I did this all to be alone with you?"

"Yes," Ginny responded straight-laced, never averting her eyes from his.

Draco muttered darkly to himself and then uncrossed his arms, letting them dangle at his sides. "If you thought that, then why did you come?"

There was a pregnant pause, and Ginny lowered her gaze, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Raising her chin defiantly, she cast Draco an equally supercilious smirk.

"Maybe I just live to prove you wrong," she said evenly, and then shrugged her shoulders forward. "Or, maybe, I'm the only one who will come save you and haul your pasty white arse out of trouble."

Draco pursed his lips together and scowled, gripping his wand tightly. After a moment, however, the blond found himself grinning, despite himself.

"Well then, Freckles," he said in a surprisingly husky voice, leaning downward until his mouth was dangerously close to hers, "my arse certainly appreciates your efforts."

A dreadful moan erupted from beneath them, causing both Aurors to glance down at their quarry.

"Dear Merlin," the hairy wizard moaned, rolling his eyes for effect. "Would one of you two _please_Obliviate me? I don't want to watch you two flirt!"

Somewhat startled by the man's words, and as though finally realising that they were not alone, Draco and Ginny immediately stepped apart, avoiding eye contact altogether.

"Right," Ginny said after a moment's pause, clearing her throat as she pointed her wand at the prisoner and directed him to his feet. "We had better take this guy in."

Draco nodded and glanced at his watch. "It's just past midnight, Freckles," he said with a grin. "I guess you missed out on all the Weasley Christmas Eve festivities."

Ginny scowled at the blond's obvious amusement at her expense and smacked her lips distastefully. "Well, I suppose I'll have to make my own festivities tonight."

"Oh, really?" Draco asked, intrigued, raising an eyebrow in unveiled curiosity.

Directing a decidedly smug smile Draco's way, Ginny grabbed a hold of the prisoner's arm and shoved him into Draco. Letting out a sharp oomph, Draco caught the man and grimaced, running his tongue along his incisor disdainfully.

"Fa la-la-la-la," Ginny sang, winking at Draco before she Apparated away with a loud pop.

"La la-la-la."

**Merry Christmas, Everyone!**

**-x-**

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**Challenge:** Tackle a non-typical facet of the holidays, which means the common sights (like mistletoe, Weasley sweaters, and candy canes) that feature strongly in Christmas fics are to be avoided. That said, the drabble/story must include one common Christmas element: all stories must mention or feature "Christmas stockings".


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